Discovery Communications has laid off some employees this week at the Scripps Networks Interactive campus in Knoxville, but details are scarce.

Discovery representatives did not respond to several requests for comment.

Adweek and Ad Age reported this week that Jon Steinlauf, formerly ad sales chief for Scripps and now Discovery’s chief U.S. advertising sales officer, is reorganizing the combined sales team to focus on three “bundles” of four channels each, led by HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel. Five other channels will get lower priority.

That reorganization led to local layoffs. While Discovery executives wouldn’t comment on numbers, Ad Age quoted unnamed sources in pegging the layoffs at more than 20.

The layoffs were not unanticipated.

Steinlauf told Adweek in April, “There’s going to be change, probably later in the year.”

Variety reported in May that about half of Discovery’s 120 employees in the Scripps U.K. office in London expected layoffs, with more likely elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

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Discovery Communications is buying Knoxville-based Scripps Networks Interactive, both companies announced Monday. The $14.6 billion purchase is expected to close in early 2018.
Submitted by Discovery Communications

Yet other Scripps jobs remain open, in other departments. The Discovery careers page for Knoxville lists 57 full-time jobs available now, almost all of them in finance and accounting.

Discovery will report its second-quarter financial results Aug. 7, according to a company news release.

In a deal announced last fall, Maryland-based Discovery bought Scripps in a $14.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. That includes Discovery’s assumption of Scripps’ $2.7 billion debt. The deal closed March 6.

Operations headquarters

The deal left Scripps Networks' 1,000 Knoxville-area employees concerned for their jobs, but in January Discovery announced it would not only keep the Knoxville campus open, but would move its own national operations headquarters here as well.

Scripps’ ability to produce content much less expensively than Discovery was a major reason cited for the purchase. Discovery has announced it hopes to save $350 million over two years by combining operations, but how much of those savings may come from job cuts is unknown.

In May, two months after Discovery formally took control of Scripps, an executive reshuffle put mostly Discovery personnel in charge. Steinlauf was one of the few Scripps leaders to keep and expand their top jobs.

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The formal takeover of Knoxville-based Scripps Networks Interactive by Discovery Communications took place Tuesday and the exterior signage is already changed Wednesday, Mar. 7, 2018. Discovery Communications is changing its name to Discovery Inc.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

This spring Kristin Alm, Discovery’s locally-based senior director for corporate communications, said more decisions on whether some of Discovery’s business units might move were likely in the next few months, but no big sudden shifts were anticipated.

Discovery’s acquisition of Scripps came with a state incentive package, but no details – such as reciprocal job commitments by Discovery – have been released.

As of this week no contract has been signed, so specifics are still unavailable, according to Scott Harrison, public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

The News Sentinel is still seeking information on this story. Anyone with specific knowledge of layoffs or other changes at Discovery and Scripps Networks can contact reporter Jim Gaines at james.gaines@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6994.